Shot of Silence

Chapter 11: Fixed Appearance

"Oi, Heath?"

"Yes, Hen-Hen?" The brunet smiled innocently as the blond, annoyed with his companion, stared at him.

"Where did you get that fedora?"

"Oh, this?" Heath tipped the said item down, "I made it. Neat, isn't it~?" He grinned.

Just like the birthday gift he made for his father figure, he recreated an exact copy to honor his mentor.

"—NeAt iSn'T iT?" Henko mocked before sighing, "And just with what money did you use to buy the materials?" He won't even bother asking how this clumsy Kirby was even able to make something so high class without injuring himself.

"Oh, I didn't need to buy anything. You already had an old, unused fedora in your drawer, gathering dust all alone in the sad corner. So I took it, used that as the base, and added some things here and there. Now, voila~!"

"Voila, my ass! How the fuck did you make such a fancy hat so neatly?"

Heath chuckled over his cousin’s freak outs, “Technically I didn’t make it, just reused it, but meh, Potato - Tomato, right?”

Henko kneaded his head in defeat, "You know what? It's still too early for these headaches..."

"Won't even question the tie? Deadass?" That brunet piped in, tugging the said colorful piece of cloth as if taunting him.

Henko sneered, "As long as I don't find holes in my clothes, I won't comment," he said, looking thoroughly exasperated, to which Heath laughed aloud.

"Dude, I've just arrived here yesterday. Don't give up on me just yet, come on now?" he said, slinging an arm around the older man's neck.

Weirdly, he felt like a total fake for being this cheerful. But actually, Heath slowly saw how his parallel self managed to hold onto his life for a full 24 years for this man alone.

Henko is a ray of sunshine himself. Despite all of his sarcastic remarks, the blond is great company. He would fit in perfectly and get along well with the rest of his past circle.

"Your sense of fashion is a disaster. Honestly, it doesn't make sense how you're rocking it." The blond's scoff brings the brunet back to reality.

"When someone is born with a face like ours, it would be a waste not to perform trials and errors." Heath snickers before he confidently chimes in, making the blond chuckle at the gesture he just made.

"Right, right," At this point, it’s better for him to just agree with his eccentric cousin than fight against his logic. 

"Though honestly, what kind of look are you even aiming for, a madman?" Of course, he was joking. However, when he saw the brunet's smirk only widen after the taunting, well, let’s just say, it's safer for his taunted sanity not to pry further afterwards.

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"Sagara-san?" the raven-haired woman called out.

"Ah, yes, Miller-san?" the brunet smiled.

"Your— hmm…" The government agent found herself trailing off, as if unsure of what to say, as she assessed her fellow teacher’s attire. “Well, ahem, your creativity is certainly shining through today…?”

"Ah," the brunet chuckled, understanding what the gym teacher was referring to. It was indeed a bold choice to wear a neon undershirt and a colorful tie made of fabric scraps. He knew that it would become a topic of discussion, despite how sharp he looked without those two minor details. Well, he had his own reasons for wearing these oddities, and besides—

"Perry-sensei said that it's okay to dress freely as long as it's appropriate. So I assumed that a fedora and a change of tie are at the very least acceptable," Heath said as he removed the fedora from his head, trailing his fingers around the edges for a bit.

‘My choice of clothing isn't even that bad yet,’ he mused. To him, this was merely testing the waters before the hail.

With that in mind, he turned his attention back to Lillian, who then answered him.

"It is not prohibited, yes. But from what I see, it seems like you have had a change of heart, of sorts?" She said, referring to how drastic his current fashion sense was compared to before the incident. From the report files she had received about the brunet from the chairman, Sagara Heath was known to dislike unnecessary attention, let alone being in the spotlight. This was something he would definitely be in now, just from the change of clothes.

‘Saraga Heath was supposedly quite a loner,’ if what the reports showed was true. Yet this guy in front of her could pass off as another person. Lillian wouldn't doubt it if he was, in fact, someone else entirely.

"Not exactly a change of heart. But you can say that these items helped strengthen my will," Heath said with a solemn look on his face as he reminisced a bit about the fedora and the reason behind why he wore that colorful tie.

Meanwhile, the taller female interpreted the information differently.

She had received reports about the incident involving the brunet and had heard the rumors circulating about it. The report not only mentioned Sagara Heath's suicidal tendencies but also described him as a frequent target of 'bullying' from both students and teachers.

'Even the society around him hasn’t been kind,' she thought.

In summary, Sagara Heath was the notorious outcast of the community, despite his excessive clumsiness being his only major flaw.

'Well, on the bright side, I guess it indicates that the neighborhood is in a peaceful state if someone as unproblematic as Sagara-san is the only troublemaker existing,' Lillian couldn’t help but pity this man. Her sympathy deepened when she recalled that Sagara Heath's maternal cousin had reported the incident to the board chairman after some students found the brunet on the rooftop, in the process of taking his shoes off.

'Yet that guy still sends someone as fragile as glass here? Near so many dangers? Sanao Gaukho— just what is he thinking?' The information she received about the two was indeed quite compelling.

Before the rooftop incident, the brunet had gotten so wasted that he argued with the board chairman about the unfair treatment that Class I-9 was receiving. He was defending the students. The following event almost happened after he lost the argument.

They never disclosed the case to the mass media, and it remained a secret among the teachers and staff. Despite what happened, Sagara Heath’s incident was the only thing that almost marred the Chairman's perfect record.

"Well, you do look different. The fedora makes your eyes sharper, so I don't think it's a bad change," she finally complimented, making the brunet chuckle as he twirled the said accessory before putting it back on his head, tipping it down a bit. 

"A great answer, Miller-san, and thank you~" a snicker was what the onyx pair witnessed before Heath continued his journey to the classroom to meet the homeroom teacher, his new buddy, to answer his list of inquiries.